Linggu Temple in Nanjing

Linggu Temple in Nanjing

Linggu Temple is a famous Buddhist temple in Nanjing, it also commemorates the soldiers killed in the national revolution, and a reinforced concrete and wood structure nine stories tall.
Chinese Name ：灵谷寺
Opening Hours: 6:00 to 18:45
Address: Ling Gu Temple Road, on the east side of the Purple Mountain(紫山东侧灵谷寺路)
Entrance Fee ：CNY 35; CNY 100 for a combo ticket covering the Open-air Music Hall in Dr. Sun Yat-sen's Mausoleum, Xiaoling Mausoleum of Ming Dynasty, and Meiling Palace; Free for children under 1.4m (4.6 feet).

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Linggu Temple

Linggu Temple is a famous Buddhist temple in Nanjing, it also commemorates the soldiers killed in the national revolution, and a reinforced concrete and wood structure nine stories tall.Founded in the Liang dynasty (502-557), which is situated to the east of Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s Mausoleum in the Purple Mountain Scenic Area.

Main Attractions in Linggu Temple

Wuliang Hall

Wuliang Hall, or known as Beamless Hall, which one of the most historic buildings in Nanjing. Wuliang Hall, The Beamless Hall is the only remaining ancient relic in the temple with over 600 years’s history. It was constructed in 1381, and is 22 metres high and 53.8 metres wide.  It has three archways on the front and rear sides respectively. The structure was built with bricks from the bottom to the top entirely, without a piece of wood or a single nail. Thus it was called Wuliang Hall, since Wuliang means beamless. It happens that the hall originally enshrined Amitābha (the Buddha of Infinite Light) whose Chinese name is similar to “Wuliang”. 

Linggu Pagoda

Linggu Pagoda was originally constructed in 1929, but was designed by American architect Henry K Murphy as a sign of remembrance for the soldiers.The nine-story-tall pagoda stands 60.5 metres high. The 9 stories pagoda is 60.5 metres high, inscribed with the speeches made by Dr. Sun Yat-Sen and epigraphs of Chiang Kai-Shek.

There is also a Three Superb Tablet In the temple, on which a painting of Baozhi painted by Wu Daozi, a famous painter; a memorial poem written by Li Bai, a Tang dynasty poet; calligraphy written by Yan Zhenqing, a well-known Tang dynasty calligrapher, is inscribed. Unfortunately, the original tablet was broken in warfare, the present one is a duplicate made during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing dynasty.

How to get to Linggu Temple

Travel with ChinaDragonTours (top recommended)

If you want to get out of the traffic and hassle of navigation, you can book a private tour package that includes visiting, dining and transfer from us. Our local guide and driver will escort you to the Linggu Temple and most convenient way and take care of all the details. You just have to focus on the visiting.

Independent Traveler

  • Take Metro line 2 to Zhonglingjie and leave from exit 1, then walk north for 15 minutes to get to the temple.
  • Take bus 202 to Linggusi Gongyuan.
  • Nanjing Self Driving
    Enter the Butler bridge and drive southward – turn left and enter Hanzhong Road and drive eastward – turn right and enter the exit of Huning Expressway and drive eastward – turn left and enter linggusi road and drive northward – enter the ring island and enter linggusi road and drive northward – turn right and drive eastward – turn left and drive northward – turn left and enter Lingdong road and drive westward.

Useful Travel Tips

  • Delicious Food

Shensong House, the famous vegetarian restaurant in Linggu Temple, lies to the east of Songlin Pavilion. The vegetarian diet here is renowned for over 600 years. The ingredients of the dishes are chosen very carefully; the cooking is very meticulous; the appearance of the food is also very nice. Though the dishes are without meat, the taste is even better than the ones with meat.

Nearby Attractions

Edited by Winnie/张赢